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Topic: Pat's Great thin crust pizzas (Read 4678 times)

Good to see some great reports on some great Chicago Style thin crust pizzas (like those at Marie's, Candlelite, Vito & Nick's, Home Run Inn, Fox's, etc.) like this and give some positive recognition to something along the lines of old-time "traditional great Chicago thin crust pizza" in Chicago -- other than the currently popular "in vogue" Neapolitan Style pizza that has massively invaded Chicago and hundreds of other cities in the U.S.A. I can almost guarantee you that the pizza at the "renown" Neapolitan pizzeria (you name it) in Chicago, can be closely had at the (you name it) "renown" Neapolitan pizzeria in (you name it) town, USA. But original style Chicago thin crust pizzas (that are not of the "in vogue" neapolitan style) are special and not available anywhere but . . . in Chicago.

Hey, just because they're "in," doesn't mean Neapolitan pizzas aren't delicious! I enjoy a good Neapolitan pizza every now and again, though my heart belongs to deep dish!

I'd love to try this Pat's place... I like how they push the sauce all the way to the edge - it looks absolutely delicious. I'm rarely a fan of cracker-style, but I think I could make an exception for this place! Oh wait... "not" cracker style!!! *dodges incoming flames*

... I kid, honestly I do. It looks great! Of the variety of pizza joints we have in MN, I'd love to see something like this, and I'd love even more to have some authentic Chicago-Style deep dish!

I used to work at Pat's - as a server. I don't know much about the recipe, although I think the crust was rolled out and then frozen raw. The frozen crust was taken out only right before topping and baking.

A fantastic ultra-thin. More tender than D'Agostino's and Neapolitan styles. The super-thin crust is more "crispy" than "crunchy" if that makes sense.

Pat's serves one of the world's best ultra thin crust pizzas. They've long been very successful at their Lincoln Ave. location and I'm surprised that this top notch pizzeria hasn't branched out like Malnati's, Home Run Inn, Vito and Nick's, Aurelio's, Gino's East, etc. having other locations around the Chicago metro area. But sometimes you don't want to spoil the original good thing.

I suspect it's true that they rolled their pizza doughs out long in advance of use, but I would be surprised to learn that they really freeze their crusts afterwards. I haven't had much luck in freezing dough or sauce for that matter. Freezing seems to change the crust/sauce character somehow and in not too good a way. Another ultra thin crust pizzeria that I'm familiar with is Fricano's in southwest Michigan and they, too, make their ultra thin pizza crusts up well in advance and leave them laying around the kitchen until "called to service." I suspect they maintain a refrigerator supply in case of excess demand that evening.

A number of us dined at Pat's last year and gobbled up every morsel of their great tender, crispy pizza as shown below.

I think Pat's dough is refrigerated. If you do a search on Youtube, you can find an interview with the owner. Search for Dining Chicago and Pat's Pizza. The video shows them making a pizza and discusses how they make the dough.

There is one video that refers to the original Pat's Pizza on Dining Chicago at .

There is another video on the youtube site (which is the one I think that Chippewafan is referring to) that talks of refrigerating the dough, but that refers to a different Pat's pizza location that I'm uncertain if it is related to the famous and original Pat's Pizzeria that is located in the Lincoln Park area at 2679 Lincoln Ave. in Chicago (see http://www.patspizza.info/ which does not refer to having any other location).

I remember at the time that I was last at Pat's, I also visited a number of other thin crust pizzerias around then, too. And I mentally compared various aspects of some of the different pizzas. Pat's super thin crunchy/crisp crust, their crust's flavor and texture, and their cheese and sausage were its highlights. The sauce was very good too, but I recall in comparing it to others, that it wasn't especially special, if that makes any sense.

I have a hard time describing their sauce, but it was an excellent and rich tomatoey sauce, predominantly on the "plain" side, but delicious. I didn't sense much of any sweetness (except natural), nor was the sauce spiced up much. It was -- in my estimation -- a perfect companion sauce to their style of pizza. "Plain but rich tomatoey sauce" is the thought that stuck in my mind. Sorry I couldn't be of more help here.

I will have to get some sample sauce when I return to Pat's for a visit this upcoming spring or summer.

It's interesting that their dough is pre-skinned and five days old. I wonder when they sheet it--on which day, I mean. Day two? Day five? I would guess more towards the latter, so that the skins don't rise.